Independent intelligencefor the architecture profession.

Working with the leaders of architecture practices to build stronger firms.

Get the Practice Briefing How we work

Building the practice behind the buildings. Research, data and strategy for practice leaders, investors and advisors worldwide.

Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku — Zaha Hadid
Data tool

How much of your practice walks out with you?

Score your practice against the Founder Dependency Index in four minutes. The full Practice Value Assessment starts from here.

Founder dependency is the single largest discount a buyer applies to an architecture practice, and the one an owner can most change before a sale. The Index measures it on five questions. The assessment prices it.
Step 1 of 2 · Five questions

If you stepped away for six months, what happens to the fee book?

How many clients would name you, rather than the practice, as the reason they came?

Who wins the practice's new work?

Who signs off design before it leaves the office?

Is there a written plan for what happens to the practice without you?

Step 2 of 2 · Where to send your reading

Your score is ready. Tell us where to send the reading and what it means for the value of the practice.

You'll also receive The Practice Briefing. Unsubscribe any time. No data is shared.
Your Founder Dependency reading

Book a 20-minute call with AndrewAbout the assessment
See a sample assessment report (PDF)
Indicative only. The Founder Dependency Index is one of five dimensions in the Legacis Practice Value Score. The full assessment values the practice today and with the work done, and sets out the gap between the two. Fixed fee, delivered in ten working days, with a founding rate for the first ten practices before January 2027.
The profession

Until now, no platform has systematically tracked how the architecture profession operates, consolidates and evolves.

0m
people employed in architecture globally
$0bn
global industry revenue
0+
firms worldwide
Source: IBISWorld, Global Architectural Services, 2025.
Approach

Three disciplines, one profession

Intelligence tells you what the profession looks like. Practice tells you how to make yours worth more. Network is the people who know before the data does.

Intelligence

What the profession looks like, from the inside and at scale.

  • Intelligence Reports
  • Frameworks
  • Country profiles
  • The global practice dataset

Practice

How a practice becomes stronger, more valuable and less dependent on its founder.

  • Legacis Practice Value Score
  • Advisory mandates
  • The Intelligent Practice
  • Certified advisor programme

Network

The people who read the market from where they stand.

  • Global Correspondents
  • Advisory Council
  • Founding Members
  • Institutional and academic partners

The buildings are the visible part. The practice behind them is where the value sits.

Building the practice behind the buildings
Lloyd's building, London
Centres

The questions practices cannot answer alone

Three centres, each built around a question no single practice has the data to settle. Each carries its own research programme, methodology and publishing cadence.

Centre for Practice Succession

Ownership transition, founder dependency and the economics of exit in architecture. Home of the Legacis Practice Value Score and the Founder Dependency Index.

Andrew Hartshorn, Founder and Chair

Centre for Practice Economics

Fees, margins, remote work and the structural pressures on practice profitability. Benchmarking drawn from published sector data and the Legacis dataset.

Reports LIR-2026 series

Global Practice Observatory

The live view of the profession by country and city, reported by correspondents embedded in each market and underpinned by the global practice dataset.

Correspondent network
Ownership

See how ownership moves through the profession.

Practices on one side, the buyers shaping the market on the other. Choose a practice type to see who is circling it.

Practices
    Buyers

      Illustrative of the ownership and momentum floors of the dataset. Shows the kinds of practice and buyer, not live data.

      Insights

      New in the library

      ArticleThe Global Architecture Market ExplainedAndrew Hartshorn · 20 March 2026 · Markets ReportThe Great Divide in UK ArchitectureIntelligence Report LIR-2026-006 · Andrew Hartshorn · September 2026 · Succession BriefingWhat your practice is worth with you taken out of itThe Practice Briefing, Volume 1 Edition 5 · September 2026 · Programmes ArticleThe Coming Consolidation of Architecture FirmsAndrew Hartshorn · 20 March 2026 · Consolidation ArticleThe Succession Challenge Facing Architecture FirmsAndrew Hartshorn · 20 March 2026 · Succession ArticleWhy Most Architecture Practices Never ScaleAndrew Hartshorn · 20 March 2026 · Fees and margins
      All work
      Annual flagship

      The Legacis Report 2027

      The business of architecture, measured. Ownership, fees, size and geography, published every January from the Legacis dataset and the correspondent network. First edition: January 2027.

      Register for the first edition
      Shared with the profession's institutions
      National institutesRegistration boardsSchools of architecturePractice associations
      Each edition of The Legacis Report is sent to the profession's national institutes, registration boards and leading schools of architecture on publication.
      Observatory

      Read the market from the inside

      A curated network of senior practitioners appointed by geography and specialism. Appointments are limited and close when positions are filled.

      Global Correspondents

      Senior practitioners appointed by market, contributing regional analysis and sector commentary from where they stand. The editorial office is in London; correspondents currently report from Dallas and Milan. Further appointments are made by invitation in selected markets.

      Advisory Council and Editorial Board

      Senior figures from practice, academia and capital guide the research agenda. A four-seat Editorial Board reads every Briefing before it goes out.

      Enquire about an appointment
      Programmes

      The Practice Briefing

      The Practice Briefing, Volume 1 Edition 5, September 2026: What your practice is worth with you taken out of it
      Volume 1, Edition 5 · September 2026Read the latest edition

      The monthly briefing for people who run architecture practices, invest in them or advise them. Four sections, one issue a month, written from inside the profession.

      Founding Members receive the full Insights library alongside each issue.

      Recurring publications
      The Practice BriefingMonthly
      Intelligence ReportsSix to eight a year
      The Legacis ReportEvery January
      Partnerships

      Join us from January 2027

      Two ways to work with Legacis: membership for the people who run, invest in and advise practices, and partnership for the organisations that serve them.

      Principals

      For practice owners and senior leaders. Every Intelligence Report and Framework, the monthly Briefing, and access to the Legacis Practice Value Score.

      Founding rate available to the first cohort

      Practices

      Firm-wide access with a verified listing in the Observatory and an annual practice benchmark against the sector.

      Verification required

      Research partners

      For insurers, lenders, software providers and advisors to the profession. Co-published reports, a named place in the annual flagship, and access to the correspondent network.

      Founding partner rate for 2027

      Investors and advisors

      For acquirers, lenders and advisors working in the sector. Deal flow signals, ownership tracking and correspondent access.

      By application
      Register interest in founding membership